Daylighting system design and evaluation of Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago.

This paper examines the application of daylighting in the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago. Daylighted museums require building designs with more complex control systems because of a liability for the care of art collections rand the obligation to effectively present artwork to the public on a regular schedule. The lighting of artwork, therefore, is an issue of great importance to curators, designers and architects. This paper discusses implications for use of daylight in exhibit areas with respect tea the illuminance, luminance and spectral variation of daylight during the day. The effects of daylight intensity, duration and spectrum on the design of an art gallery with automatic controls are presented. Different methods of calculation of relative spectral object responsivity for determining the color change to the art works with different materials are estimated. Architectural solutions and evaluation techniques using a luminance scanning system are used to shaw that daylight can be safely applied as a dynamic light source in museum design. Recommendations are given to prevent spectral damage (color change) for the illumination of light-sensitive materials.